Meckler: MANNA — Make America (Nearly) Normal Again

“Make America NORMAL Again” is the new unspoken mantra of Americans everywhere. Left and right, “We the People” are desperate for a respite from the insanity, an antidote to the hatred, and an escape from the rampant politicization. Those three plagues of modern society, madness, animosity, and polarization — the Three Horsemen of the American Apocalypse — are on the rise everywhere around us, and no one seems able to check their spread.

As a result, the American people are crying out for a return to normalcy. We pine for the good ol’ days back when, apparently, we all got along, Democrats and Republicans agreed on the most important things, and the world was a happy place.

Ah, to live in those days again!

There’s just one problem: The so-called “good ol’ days” extend way back. Way, way back. In fact, no one seems quite able to pinpoint exactly when this supposed golden age of human flourishing, happiness, and peace began. Or when it ended.

Well, forgive me for breaking up the sentimental trip down memory lane but I would like to posit that the good ol’ days never existed. They are a myth — a “best of” conglomeration of everything we ideally would like for America to embody, but which, in truth, she never has been, at least not perfectly.

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Now, that may not be true for you personally. You almost certainly remember a time in your life when politics was less stressful, your friends and family seemed less divided, and you weren’t constantly worried about what your kids might be exposed to on the TV or in school. But as a nation, we’ve always had problems. We’ve always disagreed. The most obvious proof of that is the fact that our Founders gave us Federalism.

Federalism is a system of government curated especially for a people who cannot stand each other; it’s the glue that holds together an unlikely cluster of incompatible states and sparring factions. So, if we want to turn back the clock on American society, not even then, I’m afraid, will we escape the stains of partisanship and division.

Historian H. W. Brands recently made this point in his book “Founding Partisans.”

“For anyone who thinks that gridlock and partisan machinations are a recent development,” reviewed the New York Journal of Books, “this book will quickly lay those misconceptions to rest.”

In other words, not even the Framers were united. Indeed, at times, they hated each other.

I bring this up only because I see many people, on the left and the right, waiting for something major to change on the national level before they can be happy again. If only so-and-so became president… if only his opponents lost… if only this policy would change, that bill would pass, and Congress behaved itself… then, and only then (they seem to think), will normalcy be restored.

If only it were that easy.

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Don’t get me wrong — all those things matter. Elections matter, policymaking matters, congressional reform matters. They all are important. But none of them can restore happiness or joy or normalcy or contentment to your home. You must do that. Project “Make America (Nearly) Normal Again” begins with YOU, your family, and your community — not the federal government.

Go to church. Lead your family in prayer. Pick up a book and study the lives of great American heroes. Volunteer in your community. Take an occasional break from politics and take your grandkids out fishing. Turn off the news from time to time and tell your kids a bedtime story, instead. Take your wife out for dinner.

Of course, I’m saying all of this as someone who believes very strongly in political activism. As a general rule of thumb, I believe Americans need to be more involved in politics. But politics isn’t everything. And no matter how hard we try to “bring back the good ol’ days” via our intense political campaigning, it’s all for naught if our families fall apart in the process.

Normalcy is evasive. Writ large, our nation may never be “normal” again. But who’s to say that means you can’t build a strong family? Who’s to stop you from playing baseball with your son or princes and princesses with your daughter? What’s holding you back from spending Sundays with your family, cherishing every moment God gives you with the people you love the most? The answer is, of course, only yourself.

So, which option will you choose? Will you let the insanity, hatred, and politicization take you down with the rest of the country? Or will you stand strong, defy the darkness, and choose, in your own quiet way, to make America a slightly more normal place?